We love. We laugh. We lose. We win. Our soundtrack is grown. We had no choice in the matter for the path was laid. While not perfect, our language was different. Yes we struggled with public/private selves but isn’t that the on-going struggle? Who needs to know more than they need to know? Is that not grown? It’s not a suit we put on, it is not an act we are Grown… all the time.
The transference from 1939 to 1972 to now informs us that at our darkest moments and in our happiest moments we can always recount and recall an extremely grown sentiment “And would I be sure that this is love beyond compare? Would all this be true if I didn’t care for you?” Jack Lawrence wrote it. Bill Kelly sang it and Redd Foxx in the personage of Fred G. Sanford made it live for all of us. This lives on the inside of us in our inner smoking jacket and beret for we are Grown, all the time.
Ivan Orr is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and writer. A native of Charlottesville, Virginia Ivan was involved with the forming and nascent days of The Music Resource Center as its first Program Director. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Music, Ivan currently resides in Richmond, VA where he maintains an active performance and production schedule while serving as the Music Editor for Grown Folks Music, a position he has held since 2010.
